My name is Melissa and my blog is about preparing delicious meals at home, experiencing enticing meals at restaurants, culinary related travel, and living and eating around the world. We move around a lot (Brazil, Angola, Nigeria, and who knows where we will be next) so I have an awesome opportunity to experience food around the world. Life is one big adventure!

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Sunday, April 28, 2013

Brigadeiros...chocolate heaven

Brigadeiros are the awesome little bonbons that are frequently served at birthday parties. They are made up of butter, cocoa powder and sweetened condensed milk then rolled in chocolate sprinkles. They are easy to make but they take a little while. Worth it, I promise.

Cute story about these little treats. A Brigadier (Brigadeiro) General was running for political office in the 1940's. His wife made these candies and served them at his political functions. The candies became so popular, people would ask "have you had the brigadeiros candy?" and there is the history of the name. Supposedly. Either way, it makes a good story.

Confession - I didn't even think about adding the almond butter until the very end of the cooking time. I love nut butter/chocolate together and as I sat there stirring and stirring and stirring, it came to me in a vision. I like the addition but if you're not as crazy about chocolate/nut butter, you can always leave it out.

Melt 2 T butter over low head. Once it's melted add the sweetened condensed milk, cocoa powder, salt and vanilla extract. Stir. Stir. Stir. You have to cook this over low heat and it takes a while (took me 25 minutes). You have to continuously stir it so it doesn't burn. When it was almost done, I added the almond butter. You can add it at the end but I'd just add it at the beginning with the rest of the ingredients. Once it's reduced down and thickened to where you can part it with a spoon and have it stay apart for a few seconds, it's thick enough. Pour the mixture onto a buttered plate and place in the fridge to cool. You want this to be cool enough for you to pick it up and roll it in your hands, so let it cool for at least half an hour.

Once it's cool, butter your hands and roll the mix into small balls. Next comes the fun part - roll the balls into the chocolate sprinkles and place in mini baking cups (mine were full size because I couldn't find the minis)
. Put back in fridge for a while to firm up (another 30 minutes, if you can stand it).

There are other toppings you can use on them besides the sprinkles - chopped nuts, coconut flakes, crushed cereal, etc. Be creative and use what you like.

1 comment:

Melissa, these look and sound delicious! I am definitely going to try them with my kids. I know they'd love them, too. Thanks so much for linking up with "Try a New Recipe Tuesday!" I hope you will be able to join us again this week. :-)